Decantabat populus

Giovanni Croce was a prolific composer of sacred and secular music in late 16th- and early 17th-century Venice. This grand motet for double choir (SATB.SATB) sets a Latin text celebrating the joy of the Israelites, the multitude of Jacob, and King David with his singers making joyful music to the Lord. The text, taken from the Old Testament, speaks of legitimate singing and praise offered to God in His house. Croce's setting, with its antiphonal possibilities for the two choirs, would have been ideal for the magnificent spaces of Venetian churches, creating a rich and resonant sound ideal for congregational praise.